Without personality rights you do not own the digital version of your face, image, voice or likeness. This episode dives into the harms caused by unauthorised deepfakes and what we can do about it. I discuss: What rights to artists have over AI generated versions of themselves? What’s the current legal position on voice cloning and deepfakes in the UK today? What are other countries doing to address the issue of deepfakes rights? Should the UK introduce personality rights, and what would that mean? As well as the low down on registering trade marks, what you can register them for and if they might be relevant in the context of AI and my recommendations for addressing the harms of unauthorised deepfakes.
IN THIS EPISODE
00:48 You don’t own your face in digital form – how deepfakes are a threat to our ability to control our own likeness
01:36 The 3 key harms caused by unauthorised deepfakes from Hayleigh’s research: 1) Deepfakes used for disinformation and fraud
04:20 2) Deepfakes used in violence against women and girls, and the two reasons why the harm is ‘real’ even though the video or picture may not be
08:03 3) Deepfakes displacing creative workers
10:45 What rights to artists have over AI generated versions of themselves? What about registering a trade mark?
16:06 What’s the current legal position on voice cloning and deepfakes in the UK today? Considering copyright, defamation, criminal laws, the UK Online Safety Act, passing off
21:36 How the regulation of deepfakes is being approached in other countries.
25:53 Should the UK introduce personality rights, and what would that mean?
28:49 Recommendations for addressing the harms of unauthorised deepfakes, personality rights, and other measures.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
• Hayleigh’s academic paper on Deepfakes: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jwip.70020
• Find your local MP: https://www.mysociety.org/wehelpyou/who-is-your-mp/
• Buy your copy of Copyright in the Music Industry (second edition, 2026): https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/copyright-in-the-music-industry-9781035330386.html
FIND DR HAYLEIGH BOSHER
• Instagram: @hayleigh.bosher
• Website: https://www.hayleighbosher.com/
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CREDITS
Whose Song Is It Anyway? is produced by Good Form
Funded by The British Academy
DISCLAIMER
Nothing in this podcast constitutes legal advice. It is legal education to help you learn more about your rights.
